There was a brilliant story in the news a few days ago regarding a ‘Jedi’ in Bangor, Wales, who was asked by staff in his local Tesco store to either remove his hood or leave the store. He claimed that the hood was part of his religion and as such he was being persecuted by being asked to take it off. As a result he is seeking legal advice and planning to boycott that store.
As if this wasn’t enough of a story (although we acknowledge he says he claims staff were rude and of course discrimination should never be laughed at), the response by Tesco’s spokesperson was sheer genius: “He hasn’t been banned. Jedis are very welcome to shop in our stores although we would ask them to remove their hoods. Obi-Wan Kenobi, Yoda and Luke Skywalker all appeared hoodless without ever going over to the Dark Side and we are only aware of the Emperor as one who never removed his hood. If Jedi walk around our stores with their hoods on, they’ll miss lots of special offers.”
We suspect that this member of the press office might be a (not so) secret Stars War fan as well!